Honorable P.J. Patterson

Senior Advisor to GoodWorks International

Percival James Patterson is a former Prime Minister of Jamaica. He served as Head of Government for 14 unbroken years before retiring from active politics in March 2006. At the international and regional levels, he has served as Chair of the Group of 15 developing nations (G-15), Group of 77 and China and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Mr. Patterson has played a lead role in various fora such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and Socialist International. Specifically, Jamaica was chair of the UN Security Council during his tenure as Prime Minister. He chaired the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations since its inception and is credited for developing a unified negotiating position of CARICOM countries in the international arena.
He has played an integral role in guiding international deliberations to pursue peaceful resolution to disputes that threaten the credibility of these fora and to settle cross border conflicts between CARICOM countries.

He has extensive experience and acknowledged expertise in national, regional and international policy and political issues in a broad range of areas including international trade and negotiations which he has garnered in his more than three decades in government.

International Experience

He was chair of the ACP/EEC Ministerial Conference where he played a pivotal role in forging an agreement on the basic framework for the original Lome Convention which influenced the outcome of subsequent negotiations that led to the adoption of a comprehensive Convention which was signed in 1975. He has served as President and Spokesman of the ACP Ministerial Council on a number of occasions.

P.J. Patterson has contributed to numerous Conventions and Statements in the international arena including the Valletta Statement on Multilateral Trade and the Gozo Statement on Vulnerable Small States. These have helped to shape north-south relationship and influence the negotiating position of developing countries.

Regional contribution

At the regional level, he was instrumental in establishing the mechanisms that resulted in the evolution of the Caribbean Free Trade Area into CARICOM. In his capacity as Head of Government, he contributed immensely to the several areas which were essential to build the CARICOM Single Market and realize a Single Economy. Utilising his expertise in law and trade matters, he steered the Regional Body toward the development of a Caribbean jurisprudence through the Caribbean Court of Justice and a borderless regional economy through the Caricom Single Market, both of which came to fruition in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

National contribution

As the longest serving Prime Minister in Jamaica, he has presided over the unprecedented modernization and transformation of the economic, social and political landscape of the country. His policies were guided by a National Industrial Policy which was developed to establish his Government’s key strategic long term foci designed to achieve prosperity for the Jamaican people.

He ended the country’s 18-year borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund which set the stage for the country to pursue its own economic policy. The country has experienced the longest period of economic stability which is marked by low interest rate, low inflation and a stable foreign exchange rate.

His policy of liberalization resulted in the expansion of the private sector into several areas of economic activities leading to greater access to goods and services at competitive prices. The liberalization of the Information Communication and Telecommunications Sector has positioned Jamaica as a gateway country in the Caribbean that possesses the infrastructure to transact business and facilitate economic activities in timeframes comparable to the developed world.

Mr. Patterson’s physical and social policies were designed to open up the country to investments that would trigger economic activities throughout the country and across sectors. His Administration attracted over $4.7 Billion in foreign direct investment to the country. Access to decent shelter, water and electricity surpasses that of the Latin American and Caribbean Region.

As a result of his deliberate pro-poor policy, Jamaica has now surpassed the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty which declined by 70% from just under 44% in 1991 and to just over 14% in 2006.

Speeches and Lectures

Mr. Patterson has addressed world leaders in just about every international and regional fora including the United Nations, Group of 15, Group of 77, Non-Aligned Movement, Summit of the Americas, Commonwealth of Nations and CARICOM. He has delivered numerous lectures on issues of international trade and negotiation, the development agenda for developing nations and regionalization at universities in the Latin American and Caribbean Region and the United States of America.